2026 midterm elections live updates: Latest news, results, and analysis

President Donald Trump blasted Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) after the congressman said the president was more focused on changing the name of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool than addressing rising costs.

“Lightweight Congressman Ted Lieu, one of the least respected in Washington, D.C., made a knowingly malicious, false, and defamatory statement that I wanted to change the name of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the Trump Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.

During his Monday event in front of the national monument, Trump said his administration was giving “serious thought to changing the name to the Trump Reflecting Pool” before stating shortly after that was only joking. Lieu posted a clip of the president’s speech drawing attention to rising costs and criticizing Trump.

“What are trump and his Republican enablers focused on? Changing the name of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the trump Reflecting Pool,” Lieu wrote on X. “Punish them at the ballot box. Repudiate them. Vote.”

The president called the congressman a “fraud,” claiming he knowingly misrepresented his statement.

Lieu responded to Trump’s post, calling the president’s comments “FUBAR” and adding, “Was trump joking about putting his name on the Kennedy Center too?”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) pointed to four states he will be watching early in the night as a bellwether for how Tuesday night will go for House Democrats: Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

“[Kentucky’s 6th District], that will be the first race in a red state in a traditionally safe Republican district, but that Zach Dembo has made very competitive,” Jeffries said. “That’ll be interesting to see. Certainly, is not a race one way or the other that will dictate what type of night it’s going to be, but we’ll look at Virginia, we’ll look at Pennsylvania as two critical states, as well as North Carolina.”

Democrats were last competitive in Kentucky’s 6th District in 2018, the last Democratic wave year, but the seat was later redrawn to shore up Republican support. With Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) leaving the seat to run for Senate, polling has shown this race tied. If Democrats are competitive in the seat, or even win it, it could foretell they will be competitive in other deep-red areas.

In Pennsylvania, the GOP has four competitive House seats to defend, making the party’s performance there an early indicator of whether it can hold on to its slim majority.

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s (R-PA) Lehigh Valley seat is a longtime bellwether and is often one of the closest districts in the country. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has proven impossible to beat since his first election in 2016, but Democrats smell blood in the water. Polls have shown a close race after Democrats have pumped more than $13 million into the district.

Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) and Scott Perry (R-PA) also find themselves in hypercompetitive contests. Trump won Bresnahan’s seat by more than 8 points, helping Bresnahan narrowly flip the Scranton-area seat. He faces Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in a closely watched matchup.

Virginia could provide a clear picture of how large of a Democratic wave this cycle could bring with three seats in play. Of the three, the biggest indicator could be Rep. John McGuire (R-VA). Trump won his district by more than 12 percentage points, meaning a Democratic victory may signal the party’s gains could extend well beyond the most competitive districts.

ANALYSIS — Two of the first races that could measure the pulse of the electorate are Kentucky’s 6th and Indiana’s 5th congressional districts, where the polls closed at 6 p.m. Eastern.

The Kentucky seat is an open contest to replace GOP Senate candidate Andy Barr. In the running for the district, which favored Republicans by a 26-point margin in 2024, are Democrat Zach Dembo and Republican Ralph Alvarado.

Incumbent Republican Victoria Spartz, who won her reelection by nearly 19 points in 2024, is defending her seat in Indiana from Democrat J.D. Ford. In the first drop from Indiana’s Hamilton County, which Trump carried by six points in 2024, Spartz was down by nearly 30 points.

If the trend holds, that’s risky foreshadowing for Republicans, but Spartz is enough of a singular character in Congress that it could be more noise than signal.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) expressed confidence Tuesday evening that there will be a “peaceful transfer of power ” on Jan. 3, 2027, when the next Congress is sworn in.

Asked what he plans to do if there is an effort not to seat Democratic candidates who win their races Tuesday, Jeffries told reporters that Democrats have “put together the most aggressive voter protection effort in the history of modern American midterm elections.”

“I’m very confident that just like there’s going to be a free and fair election when it’s all said and done here in America today, that there’s going to be a peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 3,” he said.

Several NASA astronauts voted in the 2026 elections from the International Space Station, showing the country how they are casting ballots far from Earth, “just like you on the ground.”

Anil Menon, Jessica Watkins, and Luke Delaney voted from orbit, with footage from the Associated Press showing Menon voting in a sleeping compartment that doubled as his voting booth, adding to the Texas tallies.

“Welcome to space station, where today we have the privilege of being able to vote here as well, just like you on the ground,” Menon said. “This is my room that doubles as a voting booth for me. Inside of it is my computer, where I was able to fill out an electronic form and then send it to Harris County, so I can vote today.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is holding an election night phone bank watch party before results begin to roll in later Tuesday.

“With a few hours left, we take nothing for granted,” Jeffries told reporters. “We want to continue to run through the finish line. The early vote numbers were strong, and today’s vote numbers all across the country are strong in blue states, in swing states, and in red states, but ultimately this is in the hands of the American people. We believe that the American people are going to make clear that they want things done in a different way here in this country, and Democrats are the ones to deliver that change.”

Over 60 phone bankers gathered to make calls in the last few hours before polls close as part of a last effort to get people out to vote across the country in what is expected to be a good night for Democrats.

Jeffries said he will be watching Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina early in the night.

“Every single House Democrat, whether progressive, a New Dem, or a Blue Dog, are all locked in on the need to deal with the affordability crisis,” Jeffries answered when asked how he would unify a caucus if Democrats take the majority. “Housing costs are too high, health insurance is too high, grocery bills are too high, gas prices are too high. People are drowning in this failed Trump economy, and the need to do something decisively to improve the lives of the American people is the thing that will unify House Democrats across the country and across the ideological spectrum.”

The event is being livestreamed on CNN and NBC and is decorated with signs reading “VOTE!” and “Fighting for an Affordable America.”

The Department of Justice is warning Americans against intimidating its election monitors stationed outside polling locations across the United States.

“The Justice Department’s election monitors are public servants doing a job the Department has done for decades: making sure that every eligible American can cast a ballot free from intimidation and discrimination,” the DOJ rapid response account wrote on X. “Publishing their personal information to harass or threaten them is an attempt to frighten federal employees out of doing their jobs.”

The department said that in the face of any potential intimidation, the poll monitors “will continue their work on Election Day to make sure every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot.”

The Justice Department sent election monitors to all 50 states for the first time on Tuesday, deploying about 1,000 nationwide.

The first polls in the 2026 midterm election cycle have closed in Kentucky and Indiana.

In Indiana, the election will determine control of Congress, with all nine of its U.S. House seats on the ballot. Republicans have maintained a strong foothold in the state, but several congressional contests could offer Democrats an opportunity to make gains as they seek to break the GOP’s hold on Washington.

Indiana is not electing a new senator this cycle, leaving the state’s House contests and local races as the primary focus for election watchers.

In Kentucky, meanwhile, voters are deciding a slate of federal, state, and local contests. Voting locations closed at 6 p.m. Eastern, while the state’s Central time counties will remain open until 7 p.m. Eastern, or 6 p.m. Central.

The state is not considered a major battleground in the fight for control of the Senate, with Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) expected to sail to victory, but its congressional races remain important to Republicans seeking to preserve their majority in the House.

Kentucky has consistently favored Republican candidates in federal elections, making the state an important part of the GOP’s broader electoral map. Attention will turn to early returns from the state’s congressional districts as results begin to arrive.

The later poll closures in western Kentucky mean statewide results will continue to develop after the first batch of votes is reported.

Texas Republicans are urging voters to stay in line at polling sites until their ballots are cast and to remain undeterred by voting equipment malfunctions.

The Republican Party of Texas said it has received reports of voters being turned away across multiple counties due to the technological issues. The state party and Republican National Committee are looking into the reports, and Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden has been notified.

“We want every Texas voter to know their rights and ensure that every legally cast ballot is properly secured and counted,” Texas Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman D’rinda Randall said in a statement.

“If you experience an issue, do not leave the polling location until you have personally deposited your ballot into the scanner or designated emergency ballot bin,” she said. “Do not surrender your ballot to an election worker. Remain at the polling location and request assistance from the presiding election judge. Every voter deserves confidence that their ballot is protected and properly handled.”

The RNC released a similar statement, saying it is “not correct” for election workers to tell voters to come back after the equipment malfunctions are resolved. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s running for the Senate, is also aware of the situation.

There were reports of longer-than-normal wait times at polling locations, especially in North Texas, throughout the day before the Republican Party made statements on the issue.

President Donald Trump said he turned off Fox News’s midterm election coverage because he “can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice” and will return to watching the network if she is removed from the air.

“Watching the Pre-Election Results on FoxNews, but I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice — DUMB AS A ROCK, but it’s the voice that gets me. Have to go somewhere else until that LOSER is off the air — I’ll be back later!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Tarlov is known as one of the network’s more liberal voices and has often drawn the ire of the president and conservative viewers.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) has reportedly requested protection from the U.S. Marshals Service after she received death threats over her endorsement of Michigan’s Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.

According to a report from Axios, Stevens requested the protection, and a Trump administration official says she is expected to have her request fulfilled.

Stevens made a shock endorsement for Rogers on Sunday, flipping from her prior support for Democratic candidate Abdul el Sayed after their rifts over his criticism of Israel’s government boiled over. She has received a lot of blowback from Democrats for her last-minute backing of Rogers, including several members of her congressional staff who resigned over the endorsement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the Senate in the state, said on Tuesday his office’s investigation into suspected voter fraud in a swing county will continue past Election Day.

Two men in Harris County were recently charged with illegally voting while they were on parole for felony crimes, after a resident tipped off authorities about the matter, according to Paxton’s office. The attorney general, now engaged in a race to beat Democrat James Talarico’s bid to flip the Senate seat blue, said he was probing concerns about further voting violations, revealing “my Election Integrity Unit is actively investigating additional reports of election crime.”

In an interview with Newsmax Tuesday, Paxton said the inquiry would continue past the election.

“There are definitely some examples of felons voting we believe in Harris County,” he said. “We’ll be pursuing this. It won’t be resolved by the time the election is over.”

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed responded to news that President Donald Trump plans to phase out funding for Israel.

The president announced Tuesday during a Fox News interview that the United States will end its annual aid of roughly $4 billion to Israel by the end of this year “because they don’t need it.” Trump stated this was a decision mutually agreed upon by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While speaking to reporters in Detroit on Election Day, el Sayed was asked about his thoughts on the announcement and whether he believed Trump was being genuine. El Sayed responded, saying, “Even a broken clock can be right twice a day; look at that.”

The midterm elections aren’t over yet, but you can already see 2028 fault lines emerging.

Vice President JD Vance has been out on the campaign trail as much as President Donald Trump and is the Republican National Committee’s finance chairman, a major fundraising position. That’s obvious.

But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been out imploring Republicans to vote, especially in Texas, warning that the early voting numbers would swamp not just Ken Paxton but virtually the whole statewide GOP ticket. Getting Paxton elected to the Senate has been a major Cruz priority. Either way, he will become the state’s senior senator and clearly has 2028 ambitions. He was runner-up to Trump a decade ago.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) distanced himself from the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections. While he offered the war and the resulting spike in gasoline prices, he’s also creating a lane for himself in the 2028 primaries. He was the hero of the 2022 midterm elections when the red wave otherwise sputtered, but wasn’t able to capitalize against Trump in 2024.

On the Democratic side, how the socialist and socialist-adjacent candidates perform in competitive Senate races — mainly Michigan, Maine, and Minnesota, with Florida always being more of a long shot — will be important to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) if she decides to run for president. Democrats who have positioned themselves as centrists, whether they really are or not, are faring better as Senate candidates despite running in redder states. In that vein, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) are topping the 2028 Democratic field in a super-early Atlas Intel poll.

For Washington, D.C., voters anxiously awaiting the results of the city’s proposed ban on foie gras, a French delicacy made from the fattened livers of ducks and geese, the New York Times has launched a prediction needle for the initiative.

The proposed ballot initiative would ban the production and sale of foie gras in Washington. The ban has sparked a fierce debate among animal activists, who believe the force-feeding required to produce foie gras is abusive, and restaurant owners who serve the luxury food, as well as producers of foie gras.

The French delicacy is made from specially fattened livers of ducks and geese, in which a tube is used to feed the birds controlled amounts of corn mash or grain.

Polls close in Washington at 8 p.m.